Quick blog about sport before I shoot off to do this morning’s Story Telling.

What a superb performance by England yesterday scoring a world record 481 in 50 overs -amazing!! Football wasn’t too bad either on Monday! While that was happening yours truly was playing in a more sedate fashion for the Gloucestershire Oldies, I scored much more slowly -no sixes! However by shepherding the tall we eventually got to a total (small one to defend) that proved decisive. Great fielding and bowling saw us home. Brilliant!

Classic Moody Blues title for today because the last few days has seen time shift. We had a delightful weekend near Colchester with many long standing and dear friends. We managed to fit in a walk round a nature reserve. We  briefly called on youngest son Peter on the way to some emergency gardening! We also visited my home town Hitchin to check on my parent’s grave which felt very raw with our Liz’s recent passing.

Yesterday saw me visit my old school to do a Story Telling workshop. So the old friends theme continued. It is a wonderful school!

The rest of the week is busy so will blog when I get the chance!

Exciting times in our garden. We have several nests in and around the garden. Plenty of young in and around the feeders. Baby Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Robins and Wrens in evidence. Also got Great Spotted Woodpeckers that nested close by so we are now regularly seeing the parents feeding the young Woodpeckers. Looking forward to doing my Bird Watching with young people from London tomorrow at Wick Court

Stories have been going well, certainly diverse audiences in ages! Today I cycled up Frocester Hill with plenty of props to Nailsworth for a Gig which was hard work on a warm day!

Came up with some new ideas for the current story I’m writing based on a Gloucestershire Legend.

Brilliant news from Wick Court today. Sam (who does some wild life work with the children) had put a camera trap on the nesting box we put up last year for the Little Owl. The results were superb, and we are now fairly certain we have young Little Owls in the box because the adult birds are regularly in and out of the box carrying food. I may add a picture to the blog later when I get it. We are hoping to ring the birds next weekend. I’m over the moon!!!!!

In the middle of a busy spell of Story Telling so this will be a fairly brief blog. Saturday I did two sessions in Kingsholm Gloucester not the rugby ground! It was at the wonderful Roots Café. I did a sparsely attended session for families in the middle of the day followed by an adult session in the evening which was great fun. Today I performed in Swindon for the National Literacy Trust and I am there again tomorrow. I have two sessions on Thursday, one is a book promotion followed by residency at Wick Court.

Had another game of cricket yesterday for my club and enjoyed captaining a mixture of old men and young boys. I even managed to take three wickets which would surprise any of you who have ever seen me bowl!

Why Sock in title? On Friday we went to see the album launch of my nephew’s band Sock. A very proud uncle watching this talented band fronted by Jake my nephew!

No story telling stuff to mention but to say I am currently learning stories for a busy period of telling coming up.

Today’s title refers to my cricketing playing obsession at this time of the year. Frolicking around in whites(well less frolicking these days) sometimes dodging showers on other occasions avoiding sun stroke! Yesterday I went with the Gloucestershire old men into deepest Somerset to play a game. The venue at North Parrott Cricket Club was stunning see the picture below. As I sat on the balcony waiting to bat I pondered on this surreal game punctuated with sumptuous teas and drinks breaks, polite applause and gaps between activity. I am sure it could only ever been of invented in England, although it is now almost a religion in India, a national identity in Australia. Do they have teas like I enjoyed yesterday?

Use a Springsteen Classic for today’s title considering how the thunder has rolled around us all in the last couple of days. We seemed to miss the lightening here that other places experienced. Despite the showers I played cricket for Gloucestershire Gypsies yesterday at the picturesque ground of Dumbleton. Little bit of a culture shock to face real fast bowlers again!

Clare and I went for a lovely cycle ride today for cake at Tortworth, she is really flying on her new bike and getting adventurous.

A rest from Story Telling this week but I have two performances on Saturday at the Roots Café at Kingsholm in Gloucester. Family performance at 1 p.m. and I am doing adult stories in the evening from 7 if anyone is around.

Friday was an emotional day at my sister Liz’s funeral. It all went well both the service and The Wake afterwards. Very proud of all my family. Still bloody awful!

Lovely bird watch at dusk last night. Lots of Martins and Swifts were over. As Gordon and I walked out by the river we heard and saw a Cuckoo a good start. We then saw both a couple of Cranes on the ground and two flying with the setting sun behind them. I wish I was a decent photographer!  A Hobby flew away and finally a Barn Owl flew out in front of us. What a brilliant evening!

What a welcome spell of decent sunshine after the unrelenting gloom and wet of the early Spring.

It has been a busy few days preparing stories some really diverse gigs coming up, getting on the bike and playing cricket! We lost to Worcestershire by one run yesterday-yours truly failed to get a run of the last ball! On the bike I am training for the Dartmoor Classic on the 1st July, it promises to be an interesting experience 67 miles and an awful lot of climbing. Wish me luck!

It will  be emotional at the end of the week as we say farewell to my sister Liz.

Just sitting down taking stock at the end of a tiring but stimulating week. I have been busy on the Story Telling front and dealing with several future requests. The bike has been well used with three significant rides. Legs feeling it now! Also squeezed in a delightful Book Club meal, a meal with old friends from my previous career and I also played cricket in deepest Wales. Phew!!!!

I have told stories in Tuffley to young children at the library, to adults at Hygrove House which was a new experience and going to be regular commitment and my regular spot at Wick Court with children from Aylesbury from a school I did visit.

Book Club we had meal based on  the  book we are currently reading. The food was of our usual high imaginative standard.

A real hilly ride today and I passed the dragon pictured in the middle of nowhere, thought it was a lovely sculpture so I snapped it. I have played two games of cricket recently one for my club and one for the old men of Gloucestershire, and the body is still together!